Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday attacked the opposition for “boycotting” a debate in Parliament on the three criminal law bills by “making excuses” and also hit out at them for mimicking the vice president.
Shah also said that these three laws will bring a huge change in the country’s criminal justice system. “Our criminal justice system is ready to leap from the 19th century to the 21st century,” he said.
“I want to assure the people of the country that after implementation of the three laws, our criminal justice system will be the most modern in the entire world,” Shah said, addressing a gathering during the inauguration of several development projects here worth Rs 368 crore related to education, health, housing and other sectors.
The minister also said by December 2024, all Union territories would have the necessary infrastructure and fully computerised courts to implement the three new criminal justice laws.
“Through the new criminal justice laws a leak-proof judicial system will come into force and the criminal cases will be disposed of in three years,” he said in a post on ‘X’. Attacking the opposition, Shah said, “I wanted the opposition to give their views on them. But the opposition decided to take the unfortunate decision of boycotting the discussion on this bill by making excuses. When the debate was taking place on bringing a change in the criminal justice system, opposition members were mimicking the vice president outside Parliament.” Shah was referring to what was happening outside the House where Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee mimicked Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar during the opposition’s protest on the stairs of Parliament on Tuesday against the suspension of MPs.
“Nothing can be more condemnable than this,” he added. Apparently referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, he said, “A prominent leader of a party like the Congress was making a video of it and making fun of it.” Several governments came and went, but the dignity of constitutional posts has always been maintained, the Union minister said.
Referring to the Parliament’s approval of the three criminal law bills, he said, “I want to assure all residents in the UTs that before December 22 next year, for implementation of these laws, the work related to infrastructure, software, human resource training and computerisation of courts will be completed.” Shah reached Chandigarh after visiting Kurukshetra for the International Gita Festival. He held a meeting with top officers of the Chandigarh Police in the evening.
“Reviewed the progress in the works toward implementing the new criminal law in Chandigarh today. I firmly believe that the UT will emerge as the frontrunner in building infrastructure, training manpower and computerizing the courts to facilitate the new laws,” he posted on ‘X’ after the meeting.
The home minister said that by January 31, a meeting for all UTs will be held so that before December 22, 2024, all of them would be fully prepared for these laws.
Attacking the opposition again, Shah said those who give sermons on the “footpath of Parliament” should understand that people are watching their attack on the dignity of constitutional posts. Be it in power or the opposition, the BJP has never disrespected a person sitting on a constitutional post, he added.
On December 21, both Houses of Parliament passed the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill. These three bills seek to replace the existing Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Evidence Act. Earlier, speaking on the three criminal laws, Shah said that before bringing these bills, several discussions were held over the past four years with stakeholders, including high court bar associations, universities, legal academics, law students, policemen, collectors and even law book publishers.
Even after framing the bills, they were sent to the standing committee of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, he said, adding that the bills were presented in Parliament after considering all the suggested amendments. A detailed time-bound programme will be made to prepare Chandigarh for fully implementing these laws, Shah said.
The country’s criminal justice system should work as per the spirit of the Constitution, Shah said, adding, “Our laws should be ready to accept modern techniques.” “I am sure that after its complete implementation, in the whole country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Dwarka to Kamakhya, no criminal case will take more than three years for disposal,” the Union home minister said.
Before making the laws, the country’s 99.93 per cent of police stations had already been connected online, he said. Now, the task is to decide the language of communication between them, bring communication software and analyse it using artificial intelligence to crack down on terrorism and crime in the country, Shah said.
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